Critical Auto/Ethnography of Learning Spanish

Phiona Stanley is a Senior Lecturer in Education at the University of New South Wales in Australia. Her research is primarily about intercultural identity constructions in international education. She has written about Western teachers in China, English language schools in Australia, qualitative research methods, and the lived experience of doing a PhD. She is now researching ‘language grading’, in which native English speakers attempt to make their own English more internationally intelligible. Dr Stanley's professional background is in English language education and she has worked in Peru, Poland, the UK, China, Australia, and Qatar.

• 1. Becoming Interculturally Competent in ‘Spanishtown’? 2. Theorizing Intercultural Competence3. Research Processes and Intrigues 4. Learning Spanish in Latin America 5. Discourses of Others: Talking about ‘Them’ and ‘Us’6. Learning From and Negotiating with Cultural ‘Others’ 7. Voluntourism: Practicing on the Community?8. Findings: Doing and Developing Intercultural Competence9. Revisiting Methodology 10. Suggestions and Teaching Activities

"A must have resource for anyone contemplating an edutourism experience with Spanish" - Barbara J. Merino, Professor, University of California, Davis"This book brings fresh insights to our understanding of intercultural competence as a key aspect of language learning in a globalised world. Inspired by Stanley’s own experience as a backpacker learning Spanish in Latin America, and drawing on contemporary narratives of everyday people involved in language learning and teaching, it illuminates the field through a unique combination of critical ethnography and autoethnography. Stanley’s sharp eye for detail, and her rich theoretical analysis, make this volume a must for any language studies scholar interested in new ways of approaching intercultural connection and competence." - Roslyn Appleby, Senior Lecturer, University of Technology, Sydney